The first week of my Civics class, my teacher took us through the American Citizenship Civics test. He asked us the same questions based on U.S. history, geography, and government that immigrants applying for American citizenship are asked. If you pass, you gain citizenship; if not, you don’t. Of the thirty-something students in my class, I was the only one who passed.
I was shocked. I was surprised students didn’t know that “We the People” are the first words in the Constitution, amazed students didn’t know the first ten amendments are called the Bill of Rights, and mortified that students weren’t aware of their freedom of speech. I was startled to learn how kids who have mostly lived in the U.S. all their lives couldn’t answer the questions I assumed we all learned years ago.
Don’t get me wrong, some of the questions stumped me. I admittedly didn’t know the name of the last appointed Supreme Court justice, nor the names of our California Senators. I get that the fluid elements of our government, like officials or court cases, can be difficult to keep up with or recall on a whim. That said, I value being educated and aware of government and politics because I believe being informed is the best way of making change.
Democracy requires participation. Only through consistent collaboration across a well-informed population of citizens can we advance social justice. In the 1910s women’s rights suffragists picketed to access voting rights equality. In the 1960s civil rights believers practiced civil disobedience to protest racial inequality. In the 1970s LGBTQIA+ members and allies marched against discrimination. Without their participation, these societal issues would likely have taken much longer to solve, if at all.
To me, civic engagement has always been an important, yet underestimated, quality. Having recently turned eighteen, I’ve realized the responsibility that comes with legal citizenship.
I want to be more aware of the state of the union, and how that ties into foreign affairs. I need to be well-learned in my rights and prioritize being an informed voter for this election year so I can make my vote count. Needless to say, my recent birthday wasn’t just another candle to blow out, but a transition into maturing in the eyes of our government.
The importance of civic engagement lies in my faith in our government as a whole. I’m not calling it perfect — honestly, it’s anything but that. We need changes in our legislation, states and federal power division, and judicial branch regulations. Still, our country is a representative democracy. Our government is built on individuals coming together over a shared passion to construct an elastic and functional bureaucracy.
Democracy requires modern people carrying out a tradition of advocating for change and putting in effort to be involved in said change. I’m not saying that the knowledge of who our Speaker of the House is equates to civic engagement, but I am saying that taking the initiative to learn about our government, the laws that lead us, and the officials that preside over us is the first step to securing a nation that promotes equitable leadership of all of our citizens.
Civic engagement builds community, develops mutual respect, breeds understanding, and creates action. Being an active participant makes me feel less like things are happening to me, and more like I have a degree of control over our future. I might not be able to create great dents in societal issues by myself, but I can add my voice to the torrents of others advocating for positive progress.
